Marco Bezzecchi claimed his third sprint victory in four Grand Prix races on Saturday, as the Aprilia rider overcame a dramatic start to beat Trackhouse's Raul Fernandez at the Australian Grand Prix.

Bezzecchi, who narrowly missed out on pole position to Yamaha's Fabio Quartararo, hit a seagull as he left the grid for the warm-up lap at Phillip Island. But the 26-year-old Italian kept his composure and overtook Fernandez with three laps remaining in the 13-lap sprint to seal back-to-back sprint wins. "It was pretty hard because at the beginning. I hit a big bird, unfortunately for him, especially. But also, for me, as I got a scare. But luckily nothing was broken on the bike, and I am very sorry for this, of course," Bezzecchi said.

"When we started the sprint, I had a lot of fun as Raul

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